Prior workers in the art have developed apparatus capable of transporting, orienting, rectifying and in other appropriate ways positioning, etc. for printing capsules, such as are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos., which may be considered representative of the prior art:
2,785,786, R. J. Bartlett, CONVEYING APPARATUS PA0 2,859,689, A. Ackley, PELLET MARKING MACHINE PA0 2,931,292, C. E. Ackley, MARKING MACHINES PA0 2,982,234, C. E. Ackley and John Kane, METHOD OF PRINTING WAXED PELLETS, AND PRINTING INK PA0 3,026,792, J. J. Miskel et al, APPARATUS FOR BRANDING UNIFORMLY SHAPED ARTICLES PA0 3,042,183, C. E. Ackley, ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS PA0 3,200,556, C. E. Ackley, CAPSULE SEALING METHOD AND APPARATUS PA0 3,272,118, C. E. Ackley, ARTICLE MARKING MACHINE PA0 3,613,861, Alten E. Whitecar, CAPSULE ORIENTING MACHINE PA0 3,739,909, Garland et al, CAPSULE HANDLING APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 3,838,766, Wagers, Jr. et al, CAPSULE INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 3,868,900, Edward M. Ackley, CAPSULE PRECISION PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 3,871,295, Edward M. Ackley, CAPSULE ORIENTING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF SPIN PRINTING PA0 3,884,143, Edward M. Ackley, CONVEYOR LINK FOR TABLET PRINTING APPARATUS PA0 3,912,120, Hoppmann et al, CENTRIFUGAL METHOD OF SORTING AND ORIENTING PARICULATE ARTICLES PA0 3,917,055, VandenBerg et al, CAPSULE RECTIFICATION APPARATUS PA0 3,931,884, Edward M. Ackley, APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING AND ORIENTING CAPSULES PA0 4,069,753, Edward M. Ackley, deceased, APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR THE RANDOM SPIN PRINTING OF CAPSULES
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,931,884 and 4,069,753 show "spin printing" apparatus, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,785,786, 2,859,689, 3,026,792 and 3,424,082, show other apparatus and methods for branding or printing indicia on the article.
The present apparatus represents an improvement over the prior art capsule orientation and printing machines for many reasons, e.g. more versatile, greater efficiency and for other reasons as will become apparent from the further description. It provides a reliable, automatic and rapidly functioning device capable of rapidly and uniformly orienting a plurality of randomly fed capsulses for subsequent printing operations.
In view of these patents and a fairly advanced state of technology, the present machinery and method is quite unobvious and represents a further significant advance in the art.